


dreams like caresses

by Weirdowhotalkstoofast



Category: DCU, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Implied Sexual Content, Interspecies Relationship(s), M/M, Mostly Fluff, Other, implied polyamory, when your host doesn't want you to dope him too much so instead you cuddle with him in his dreams
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 15:15:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8994745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Weirdowhotalkstoofast/pseuds/Weirdowhotalkstoofast
Summary: Jaime has nightmares but sometimes, he has dreams with Khaji Da.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [The_Mouse_of_Anon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Mouse_of_Anon/gifts).



> Merry Christmas, fire-fira/The_Mouse_of_Anon. I hope you enjoy this.

 

 

Jaime Reyes had nightmares.

They were, of course, about the Reach and the caged, tied down, frozen feeling of being on-mode and killing everyone he loved and billions more as he destroyed the foundation of humanity.

They were also about being alone. A loneliness that came from a glimmer of hope and the terror of isolation.

Sometimes they were fragmented and blurred, only the feeling of _fear-terror-panic-grief_ being remembered. Sometimes they were crystal clear and coherent and Jaime Reyes hated those the most.

To Khaji Da, they were the cause of much stress and needlessly disrupted his host’s functionality. As so, Khaji Da woke up his host if he did not wake up on his own in order to initiate a more peaceful dream sequence. Khaji Da did his best to ease the negative emotional side effects but there were days when Jaime Reyes seemed unable to concentrate on the necessary subjects and function properly. Khaji Da could do little but assure and comfort Jaime Reyes after a frightening night, keep him somewhat cordial during the day, and coax him into a dreamless sleep after all of their duties were completed.

Khaji Da was tending to the symptoms. He wanted to cut out the sticky and poisonous thoughts that kept up his human at night and made him cry during times of peace. One of the theorized purposes of dreams was to remember but Khaji Da did not understand why it was necessary for such a process to be detrimental to health.

After some calculations and research, he became certain that he could stop the unnecessary feelings of panic and alarm, or at least decrease their frequency.

But Jaime Reyes did not want him to. He did not want his thoughts, and feelings to be tampered with-

“-no matter how much they suck. You can calm me down but you can’t- you shouldn’t just cut them out. You know I need to have emotions. You too.”

_[I do not intend to ‘make you emotionless,’ only cut out the excess fear.]_

“I…still don’t think you should do it. You can’t just dope my fear all the time. I’ll end up messed up.”

 _[You always become distressed during your nightmares. And that excess fear disturbs you during the day. It is inefficient to allow this continue.]_ A pregnant pause. _[I want to help you.]_

“You _are_ helping me. You calm me down and give me sleep that doesn’t have nightmares. That’s more than what I can ask for.”

_[…]_

“Really, it means a lot. _Gracias_.”

_[As you say, Jaime Reyes.]_

Then, the shift of their relationship to include more intimate means of expression occurred. To satiate to Jaime Reyes' fleeting but recurring desire thought to _see_ and _feel_ him, and perhaps decrease the frequency of nightmares, Khaji Da initiated contact in Jaime Reyes' dreams.

The first time:

A simple, gentle touch to the face, bundled with a conversation about different types of plants and stars. Jaime comments in Spanish.

The second time:

They talk about recent criminal activity and the mechanics of the human brain (dreaming is so _cool_ ). Jaime takes hold of Khaji Da’s hand as he listens to a lecture about the frontal lobe.

The sixth time:

Khaji Da presses himself against Jaime’s flickering form, feels it become solid and warm, and felt Jaime press back. They don’t talk about anything.

The tenth time:

Khaji Da touched Jaime’s soft hair. Jaime leaned against his chest and they quietly watched the blurry landscape shift and change like sand dunes.

The fifteenth time:

Jaime took Khaji Da’s hand from its resting place in his hair and slipped it under his shirt. Khaji Da spread his fingers over Jaime’s heart, and listened to the beat echo its physical counterpart.

The twentieth time:

Jaime was beneath him, breathing heavily and tugging him closer. He was warm and soft and so _close_.

“Khaji,” he would say, desperate and gasping and wanting. “ _Khaji.”_

Khaji Da did not know what to say back. He responded with movement, let the hands this dream reality gave him touch skin and make the human writhe. Khaji Da pressed deeper.

The world splits into white fractals.

The twenty-seventh time:

“I’m not sure what I like more,” Jaime says, laying on Khaji Da’s chest. They stare up to a night sky full of alien stars. None of them are arranged in Earth’s constellations. “Our time here or in real life.”

“Favor real life,” Khaji Da says. “Because there, our body remains. We cannot afford to leave ourselves open to attack.”

Jaime smiles warmly. “ _Yo se_. I just like you hugging with a body and arms. It feels nice.” Pause. “Not that I don’t like your scarab hugs or talking but this-“

“-is different in a good way,” Khaji Da finishes for him. “I agree with you of the possible benefits of this, Jaime Reyes. It is good to be lucid in dreams. We can become more resistant to telepathic attacks.” Khaji Da tilted his head. “It also distracts your mind from creating nightmares. You can rest here.”

“Yeah,” Jaime says. “ _Gracias_.”

The thirty-eighth:

“I do not dream,” Khaji Da says. “Memory files can play incorrectly or become corrupted but I do not dream.”

“Huh,” Jaime says. His hand is intertwined with Khaji Da’s. “No electric sheep then? Just darkness?”

Khaji Da ponders. “My systems are always running on some level, even in hibernation, to maintain integrity and function.”

“Like how a human heart doesn’t stop even as the brain sleeps.”

“Adequate comparison,” Khaji Da agrees. “And so, parts of my self receives data and reacts to it according to programming. In that, I experience awareness during sleep.”

“So how does that feel?”

Khaji Da considers it. “As most maintenance and scans but I am less…conscious.”

Jaime nods, and scoots closer to lean on Khaji Da’s shoulder.

 

 

Khaji Da is not foolish as to consider the dreams as a significant part of his partnership with Jaime Reyes. The dreams were only a small fraction of the satisfaction and happiness he felt with Jaime Reyes. He does not initiate contact every night. He keeps Jaime Reyes’ trust and does not tamper with his emotions. He enjoys movie commentary and battle as much as he enjoys the quiet dreams. It was merely a different pastime. He lets Jaime Reyes have solace when he expresses a need to think alone.

But-

Khaji Da will not lie to himself. He likes the bouts of uninterrupted time and connection with his partner. Khaji Da enjoys taking advantage of the virtual reality Jaime Reyes dreamed of when he slept because of the tranquility and warmth that remained in both of their minds after a bout of time together. Especially of bouts where Jaime Reyes would allow him to touch his stomach and back, let him press as close and deep as he could to the human in that form.

Bouts such as-

The ????? time:

Khaji Da purred as Jaime sank into his lap, mewling as Khaji Da squeezed his hips and thighs playfully. Then he reached up and stroked black brown hair, tangled one hand into the mass to tug and play with as his human squirmed and adjusted himself. Puffing with suppressed laughter, Jaime tilted his head back. Khaji Da took the opportunity to swoop in and suckle a dark mark into the side of the human’s neck.

"Give me a second to breathe," Jaime huffed as he clutched Khaji Da's shoulders with white knuckles. He rocked back and forth experimentally. "God, this feels good." He shuddered. " _Duele tambien._ "

Khaji Da pulled away and chirped. "More preparation needed?"

Jaime laughed. "You've prepared me enough, perv." Jaime pressed a kiss to black lips. "I loved your fingers but I think we both want something else."

Khaji Da rumbled. "You are pliant to me either way, Jaime Reyes. And very sensitive." Khaji Da caressed Jaime's face with the back of his hand.

Khaji Da continued as Jaime leaned into his touch. "But I suppose this way is also pleasurable." He then captured Jaime’s mouth with his own right before pushing Jaime onto his back and into a more exposing position. Jaime looked up at him confusedly but not in disapproval.

“This position is the more pleasurable, yes?” Khaji Da asked as he shifted their bodies.

Jaime grunted as Khaji Da pushed him open. “G-Guess so. Whatever is fine with – _ah_!” Jaime arched, hands twisting the sheets beneath them.

Khaji Da hummed amusedly and easily held down the writhing human beneath and around him. He sighed, utterly self-indulgent as he pressed deeper and he heard --felt—the human cry out and become even more unwound.

“Khaji,” Jaime panted, utterly _ruined_ and a _mess_. “Please. _Please_.”

This, Khaji Da decided before the sky bent, was one of his favorite benefits of their dream reality.

 

The forty-ninth time:

“Bart would love a video of us,” Jaime says. “You know, doing it with two bodies.” Beat. “Wow, that sounds weird.”

Khaji Da lays on Jaime’s folded legs with half-lidded eyes and long limbs. They are resting under the dappled shade of a tree Jaime’s sure Khaji Da knows the name of, watching the orange sun slowly dip below the horizon. Khaji Da hums whenever Jaime strokes the carapace. He reminds Jaime of a cat.

“It is accurate nonetheless,” Khaji Da says. “The Bart Allen likes flagrant displays of affection.”

“Well since I’m pretty sure Bart is sane enough not to have public sex, I’m assuming you’re referring to kissing?”

“Yes.”

“Ah. Hm. I’ve lost count Bart kissed me in front of, well, everyone.”

“Thirty-seven.”

“Hm?”

“The Bart Allen has kissed you thirty-seven times in front of others.” Khaji Da clicked. “He is very affectionate.”

“Yeah,” Jaime says. “I guess that’s one of the reasons I love him.”

Quiet. A tendril slithered from Khaji Da’s –their?—carapace and looped around Jaime’s wrist. Jaime stroked it fondly with his other thumb.

“Guess one of the reasons why I love you, _chiquito_ ,” Jaime says.

Khaji Da shifted, hummed a bit. “Our nervous systems are connected,” he says as he looks up with curious eyes.

Jaime smiles. “Yeah. Also because of your sarcasm.” Jaime remembers half-meant snaps at teammates and banter, and smiles wider. “And because I…know you. I like knowing you.” Jaime placed a hand on Khaji Da’s carapace, felt the hum of machinery and circuits. “You’ve changed my life.”

Khaji Da curled closer, content and radiating warmth. “Likewise, Jaime Reyes.”

The tendril tightened its grip on Jaime’s wrist.

 

 


End file.
